"Statement from Brewster Kahle, digital librarian of the Internet Archive: “When people want to listen to music they go to Spotify. When people want to study sound recordings as they were originally created, they go to libraries like the Internet Archive. Both are needed. There shouldn’t be conflict here.”" From the article I believe they are arguing that the intent behind the digitization is fair use, as you say, bu…
Shellac 78s are old but equipment to play them is commercially available and they can be played on turntables that support 78 rpm with the right cartridge. I misplaced the 78 belt for my Pro-ject turntable during a move a few years ago and in the mean time found a copy of New World Symphony that I’ve been wanting to listen to.
"Statement from Brewster Kahle, digital librarian of the Internet Archive: “When people want to listen to music they go to Spotify. When people want to study sound recordings as they were originally created, they go to libraries like the Internet Archive. Both are needed. There shouldn’t be conflict here.”" From the article I believe they are arguing that the intent behind the digitization is fair use, as you say, bu…
Shellac 78s are old but equipment to play them is commercially available and they can be played on turntables that support 78 rpm with the right cartridge. I misplaced the 78 belt for my Pro-ject turntable during a move a few years ago and in the mean time found a copy of New World Symphony that I’ve been wanting to listen to.
I have a collection of several dozen 78 rpm shellac records that I inherited from my father, who inherited them from his father. I have a turntable but it won't play 78s. Been wanting to check with my local university to see if they could digitize them and maybe take the originals as a donation.
I have also thought about looking for an old Victrola at an antique market and keeping them to play as a novelty, but it would really be just that.
While I strongly disagree with the length of copyright protection, after reading this and reading more about the case, from a purely legal perspective, I just don't see how IA has any defense. They basically just seem to be saying "these are old records, so we should be able to copy them. Also, our work is mainly for academic researchers." My guess is that they are arguing fair use, but I just don't see how that appl…
Copyright protections are important. Just how many of those artists would have created their works if they knew that decades after their death an average of one researcher of a month might access a digital copy of the work for free ? It completely ruins the incentive structure! Might as well become a fry cook instead.
I don't know, if you tell me that 120 years from now, one researcher a month will be accessing it, I'll go write a song right now!
For some additional context, the copyright laws in the US make a very specific exception for archival[1]. >(a)Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.—Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: >(2)that such new copy or adaptation…
> Sony, et al. allege that Internet Archive's public redistribution of their digital copies of the records do not fall under the archival exception. Seems pretty obvious to me that, just with respect to the archival exception, that Sony et al is correct here. The issue is not with IA making backup copies of these works - the issue is with making copies and making them available for free over the Internet that is the…
What should the M.O. of an archive be, then? Paid access? That would be an even worse offense! Zero access except for the person who created the archive? That makes no sense either. The archivist needs to vet potential accessors for certain motives? Only offer access to small samples?
Isn't vinyl the most popular physical medium by sales right now? Sure, 78s aren't as supported, but the first Technics turntable I clicked on can play them, and the Wirecutter has a recommendation that plays them. "Obsolete" is a stretch.
That gave me an idea, I have some old 78s -- could I play them at 45 and then use Audacity to speed them up by 173%?
While I strongly disagree with the length of copyright protection, after reading this and reading more about the case, from a purely legal perspective, I just don't see how IA has any defense. They basically just seem to be saying "these are old records, so we should be able to copy them. Also, our work is mainly for academic researchers." My guess is that they are arguing fair use, but I just don't see how that appl…
> My guess is that they are arguing fair use, but I just don't see how that applies here when they make copyrighted works available, for free, over the Internet. The fourth part of the fair use test rests on whether the use of the work impacts the commercial market for the work. Given these works are often: - Not offered in their original form - Would likely have little residual commercial value if so offered - And,…
Couldn’t one argue that while there’s _minimal_ commercial viability of this work now, it’s still not zero? And that by making these available they could make it zero?
Most record players don't even play 78's. I had to go out and buy some borderline novelty player to play a few Soviet 78's. The whole point of copyright is it's a limited time monopoly that must end at a reasonable time, at which point works fall into the public domain. The problem is sheet music, music recording, likenesses, photography, and written works all have radically different interpretations of this, or have…
> Most record players don't even play 78's Really? I don't know turntables, but I feel like every DJ wants a Technics one. The first several I looked at on their website play 33 1/3s, 45s, and 78s.
The classic DJ turntable was the Technics SL-1200. It plays 45 and 33.3.
The Pioneer PLX-1000 is a near-copy of the old Technics, it also plays 45 and 33.3 rpm
> My guess is that they are arguing fair use, but I just don't see how that applies here when they make copyrighted works available, for free, over the Internet. The fourth part of the fair use test rests on whether the use of the work impacts the commercial market for the work. Given these works are often: - Not offered in their original form - Would likely have little residual commercial value if so offered - And,…
Couldn’t one argue that while there’s _minimal_ commercial viability of this work now, it’s still not zero? And that by making these available they could make it zero?
Zero and minimal are the same thing when it costs non-minimal resources to bring something to market and reach potential customers through advertising etc. When it costs you $15 to make a $10 sale you are not losing money to abandon the market.
While I strongly disagree with the length of copyright protection, after reading this and reading more about the case, from a purely legal perspective, I just don't see how IA has any defense. They basically just seem to be saying "these are old records, so we should be able to copy them. Also, our work is mainly for academic researchers." My guess is that they are arguing fair use, but I just don't see how that appl…
"Statement from Brewster Kahle, digital librarian of the Internet Archive: “When people want to listen to music they go to Spotify. When people want to study sound recordings as they were originally created, they go to libraries like the Internet Archive. Both are needed. There shouldn’t be conflict here.”" From the article I believe they are arguing that the intent behind the digitization is fair use, as you say, bu…
They are indeed making copies in the strictest sense, but the real problem is if the copyright holders don't enforce their copyrights in the strictest sense they can forfeit their copyright. For example, if I let the public use an image copyrighted by me long enough without strict guidelines and I try to take someone to court, the court can say yes well you let the horse out of the barn and now you are trying to put it back in after it's everywhere. The solution is always licensing, and licenses can be free. So IA and the copyright holders instead of playing hard lawyer ball can cooperate; the copyright holder can grant them a free license for works that would otherwise not be getting exposure of make them money which they can revoke at any time should they decide to try and make money off of a work again. They can also provide strict usage guidelines in that license for IA as well as IA's users so it's clear this is meant for a narrow use and using it outside those guidelines can result in legal/financial penalties. To me this is a win-win because it could open the door for companies like Spotify to subsequently license works that gain popularity from exposure for a fee.
"Statement from Brewster Kahle, digital librarian of the Internet Archive: “When people want to listen to music they go to Spotify. When people want to study sound recordings as they were originally created, they go to libraries like the Internet Archive. Both are needed. There shouldn’t be conflict here.”" From the article I believe they are arguing that the intent behind the digitization is fair use, as you say, bu…
Shellac 78s are old but equipment to play them is commercially available and they can be played on turntables that support 78 rpm with the right cartridge. I misplaced the 78 belt for my Pro-ject turntable during a move a few years ago and in the mean time found a copy of New World Symphony that I’ve been wanting to listen to.
It's not a question of if it's physically possible. It's a question of what the customer is going to do. You can't play a 78 on your iPhone. You can play Spotify on your iPhone. So the customer is going to use Spotify.